Applications are invited, from suitably qualified students, to enter the PhD program of the Language and Culture Research Group within the Cairns Institute of James Cook University Australia. Supervision will be provided by Professors Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, R. M. W. Dixon, Dr Mark W. Post, and Dr Anne Schwarz. Our PhD candidates generally undertake extensive fieldwork on a previously undescribed (or scarcely described) language and write a comprehensive grammar of it for their dissertation. They are expected to work on a language which is still actively spoken, and to establish a field situation within a community in which it is the first language. Fieldwork methodology centres on the collection, transcription and analysis of texts, together with participant observation, and at a later stage judicious grammatical elicitation in the language under description (not through the lingua franca of the country). Our main priority areas are the languages of tropical Amazonia, the Papuan and Austronesian languages of New Guinea and Tibeto-Burman languages. However, we do not exclude applicants who have an established interest in languages from other areas. PhDs in Australian universities generally involve no coursework, just a substantial dissertation. Candidates must thus have had a thorough coursework training before embarking on this PhD program. This should have included courses on morphology, syntax, semantics, and phonology/phonetics, taught from a non-formalist perspective. We place emphasis on work that has a sound empirical basis but also shows a firm theoretical orientation (in terms of general typological theory, or what has recently come to be called basic linguistic theory).

The Cairns Institute is a world centre for advanced study relating to the tropics. Distinguished Professor Alexandra (Sasha) Aikhenvald is Research Leader for People and Societies of the Tropics. Together with Professor R. M. W. Dixon, she heads the Language and Culture Research Group, which includes Research Fellows and a growing number of doctoral students. In addition, senior scholars from across the world opt to spend their sabbatical in the Cairns Institute. The LCRG has strong links with anthropologists, archaeologists and educationalists, with scholars working on environmental issues, all within James Cook University.

The scholarship will be at the standard James Cook University rate, Australian $22,860 pa. Students coming from overseas are liable for a tuition fee; but this may be waived in the case of a student of high merit. A small relocation allowance may be provided on taking up the scholarship. In addition, an appropriate allowance will be made to cover fieldwork expenses. The scholarship is for three years (with the possibility of a six month extension). The deadline for application by international students (starting in 2011) is 31 August 2011; the deadline for students with Australian and New Zealand passports is 31 October 2011.

The academic year in Australia commences about 1st March. Successful applicants would take up their PhD scholarships between January and June 2012. The application procedures for international students can be found at:

Prospective applicants are invited, in the first place, to get in touch with Professor Aikhenvald at Alexandra.Aikhenvaldjcu.edu.au, providing details of their background, qualifications and interests (including a curriculum vitae).